Columbine High School Massacre 10 years on

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 8:35am

I cant believe it was 10 years ago today!

Even though im here in the UK, Columbine affected me so much that its stuck with me for years, in many ways this affected me more that 9/11 did, though both were horrible.

I remember watching the news as it was happening and thinking 'how can young people do this to other young people'?
It was a question which haunted me and spurred me on to write my play 'Rage', a play that deals with the ongoing issue of High School Shootings, a play that after 6 years of work finally arrives on stage this November.

I realized that i could understand what makes someone so unhappy that they could feel numb, anger and pain...that person in high school was me, being gay in high school was horrific and they were many times i just wanted to lash out at the world....but that switch in your head stops you...thank god, so why didn't it with these 2?

Its questions i had and answers i found that disturbed me and moved me, made me breath a sigh of relief whilst at times leaving me with more questions. I do however know it will be something which affects me for the rest of my life.

The sad thing is that whilst somethings were changed after Columbine much more was left unresolved, you only have to look at Virginia Tech to see that.

But right now im rambling, what i would like to say is that today im thinking of the ones who survived and the ones who did not, you are in my thoughts and prayers and always will be.

The survivors have shown such strength in moving forward but never forgetting, its a quality to be admired especially in young people.

just know that we will never forget XXXXXXX

[singtopher]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 8:45am

I actually started a thread on this already. Admittedly, my title isn't as straight forward as yours.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=995215&boardname=off&dt=0&boardid=2

Updated On: 4/20/09 at 08:45 AM

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 8:48am

yikes sorry love i just saw that thread, apologies x

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 6:48pm

Wow i thought there would be more reaction to the 10 year anniversary of this!

[StockardFan]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 6:50pm

I was teaching High School at the time, and I can't really even put into words the way this affected me, my fellow teachers and my students.

[singtopher]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 11:17pm

Wow i thought there would be more reaction to the 10 year anniversary of this!

Me too. To expand on what I had said in my thread, having grown up in Denver, and being at a certain age when the tragedy occured, it had a very profound affect on me, and my community. I knew students who went there, a friend's father was a teacher there that day, and a close family friend taught a couple of the murdered students when they were in elementary school. In my area, it was one of those things where if you weren't directly effected by one of the casualties, you knew someone who was. My high school looked at itself and saw that it was a Columbine waiting to happen. The administration quickly made large changes aimed at bringing the student body together, which is did! However that day will stick out in my mind as much if not more than 9/11.

Some good has come from this. Gun control and bullying was suddenly a hot topic all around the country. The Never Forgotten Fund was established to give away 13 scholarships each year (12 for students, and one for a teacher).

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/21/09 at 7:55am

I never knew about the Never Forgotten fund, that sounds positive

[shameless]

Posted: 4/21/09 at 2:12pm

"Wow I thought there would be more reaction to the 10 year anniversary of this!"

I think people said similar things when there wasn't much reaction to a Pearl Harbor thread and to the last September 11th thread.

Not everyone feels the need to express their feelings publicly and speaking for myself, I've already said everything I've wanted or needed to say about it.

It was a horrible, senseless tragedy. Those of us that were old enough to understand what happened, when it happened, are unlikely to ever forget it.

Updated On: 4/21/09 at 02:12 PM

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 6:08pm

I just finished reading (or listening to, as it were) the new book Columbine by Dave Cullen. I thought it was fascinating to see the far-reaching impact the events of that day had on everyone involved.

Two weeks later, I'm still mulling it all over. What has struck me unexpectedly hard is my reaction to Dylan Klebold's (one of the shooters) parents. An astounding percentage of the population blames bad parenting for what happened. In discovering more of the background information, I realized that is too easy of an answer...one that makes us feel better about ourselves...but is neither accurate or true. In the same set of circumstances, I doubt I would have been any more clued in than either set of parents.

I found myself stuck on thinking about how, of all the lives that were destroyed, the parents of the killers suffered greatly and permanently. They lost a child, their child did something unimaginably horrible, and they are blamed for it, too. I believe it is probably an even more difficult position to be in than being the parent of one of the victims.

Anyway, those are some of my random musings about Columbine.

Updated to correct a spelling error and remove an unnecessary comma...

Updated On: 4/23/09 at 06:08 PM

[singtopher]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 9:11am

^ I 100% agree.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 10:08am

yeah thats a very good point